If you own a website or blog, you probably already know that the bulk of your visitors have the attention span of a gnat. Unfortunately that’s just the way it is. So if you are creating content, and you want them to stick around and read some of it, it’s got to be engaging. So here are 21 easy ways you can spruce up your content and make it more engaging and interesting to your readers.
1. Use a killer headline.
2. Use simple lingo.
3. Make it fun.
4. Make it relevant and on-topic… don’t wander all over town!
5. Make it useful… eg. they can take that information and apply it in someway right after reading it.
6. Tell a story. People love stories.
7. Know your audience and write directly to them. Even better, make up your ideal reader and just write to them specifically!
8. Keep it short. Long-winded is boring. People don’t like boring. People leave when you get boring. Moral of the story? Don’t be boring!
9. Use incentives. Things like contests and prizes are great for keeping your visitors attention… people love free stuff.
10. Create your ‘writer’ alter-ego. Inject a distinct ‘personality’ into your writing and stay true to it.
11. Use video.
12. Use audio.
13. Use both! Some people just hate to read. Make it easy for them to stick around and learn something, and they will.
14. Keep it clean. Unless slang and cursing applies to your audience of course. But in general… clean is good!
15. Don’t be pushy. If you’re trying to sell something with your content, be subtle. Hit their emotional triggers, but don’t make it seem like a pitch.
16. Break it up. Your paragraphs I mean. If it hurts YOUR eyes to read it, think about how Aunt Jane or Grandma Lucy will feel trying to read it.
17. Use bullets.
18. Underline cool stuff. Or just underline stuff ‘cuz it’s cool. Whichever floats your boat.
19. Use pictures.
20. Use text boxes and other cool visual stuff that draws a reader further down the page.
21. Bold your titles and subtitles. And other stuff you want to draw attention to.
OK, there you have it. 21 ways you can make your web content more engaging to your visitors. See something I missed? Have additional ideas? Please leave them in the comment box below, I’d love to hear them.
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Warm regards,
Cori Padgett AKA k0zm0zs0ul
